Africa-Press – Liberia. By: Kruah Thompson
Former Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Africa’s first elected female head of state and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has called on world leaders to move beyond treaties and deliver tangible results in the lives of people, warning that silence over conflicts in Gaza, Ukraine, and Africa betrays the UN’s founding promise.
She emphasized that peace cannot be achieved through speeches alone, but through concrete action in conflict zones, which involves protecting civilians and building lasting security.
Addressing the UN General Assembly’s high-level plenary on peace and security, Sirleaf said global structures and leaders have failed the world by remaining silent as women and children suffer from acts of inhumanity in Gaza, Ukraine, and elsewhere.
She said multilateral structures, built to shield future generations from war, are underperforming, and global leadership lacks a unified effort to respond to a technology driven world.
“Are we to continue to accept the imbalance of global power, as reflected in the Security Council and the use of vetoes that limit current tools for peacebuilding and peacekeeping?” Sirleaf asked, noting that commemoration without candor is unaffordable. “The world asks whether this House will protect civilians and uphold international humanitarian law. These are not words of despair; they are a summons to repair.”
Sirleaf warned that the credibility of the multilateral system is at stake as conflicts stretch from Sudan and the Sahel to Gaza and Ukraine.
“Peace is built not only in conference rooms but in classrooms where girls learn without fear, clinics where mothers deliver safely, markets where youth find dignified work, and courts where law is fair,” she told delegates.
She stated that great power rivalries are undermining the UN’s founding promise of collective security, the misuse of the Security Council’s veto, and leaders’ failure to prevent humanitarian crises.
Citing Liberia’s post-war transition as evidence of what international cooperation can achieve, Sirleaf highlighted the role of UN peacekeepers, regional African bodies, and women-led initiatives in disarming fighters, reforming security institutions, and restoring public trust. “Where guns fall silent, skills training, jobs, justice, and dignity must follow swiftly,” she added.
She urged a new vision of global peace under the theme “Better Together,” calling for immediate protection of civilians, financing for conflict prevention, accountability of leaders, and guaranteed participation of women in peace negotiations. She also emphasized the need to “weaponize the information space” to counter disinformation that fuels modern conflicts.
Her remarks come as the UN faces mounting criticism over its inability to stop wars and address widening inequality, climate change, and political instability. “Have global structures and leaders failed us?” she asked.
“The UN’s founding generation would ask if we are still worthy of the hopes inherited,” Sirleaf concluded. “Our answer must be yes, not because the world is less dangerous, but because our determination is stronger.”-Edited by Othello B. Garblah.
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